MODERN SEARCH FOR E.T BEGAN 40 YEARS AGO

MODERN SEARCH FOR E.T BEGAN 40 YEARS AGO

MOUNTAIN VIEW, Calif. (Wireless Flash) -- Tomorrow marks the 40th anniversary of the day scientists first tried to phone E.T. at home. On April 8, 1960, astronomer Frank Drake in Green Bank, Virginia, pointed an 85-foot-tall radio telescope at two nearby stars in the hopes of hearing an E.T. say "Howdy." The experiment -- called "Project Ozma" -- inspired a search that continues today with the San Francisco-based Search for Extra Terrestrial Intelligence (SETI). Although it's possible aliens have already received television transmissions of "I Love Lucy," we probably won't know what they think about Ricky and Lucy for years because only small batches of the sky are being scanned at a time. However, a SETI spokeswoman says technology has improved so much over the last 40 years, that if aliens are out there, it's only a matter of time before we hear from them.